Sharing Microsoft Outlook Calendar and Contacts

For many offices, the most frustrating experience related to Microsoft Outlook is finding out that, unless you are using Microsoft Exchange Server, there is no simple, built-in, reliable method for sharing contacts and calendars. That's right, there's no "magic wand" you can wave to enable people to easily share Outlook data without Exchange.

One reason that this goal of sharing is so elusive is that standalone users store data in Personal Folders .pst files. However, two people cannot work from the same Personal Folders .pst file at the same time, because these files are not designed for shared access. The same problem occurs if two people try to look at the same Personal Address Book. Of course, if two people share the same computer at different times of the day, they can share data; see Sharing Microsoft Outlook Info on One PC. A relatively recent development is the advent of a few products that can bypass the shared access limitations of PST files.

New in Outlook 2007, is calendar publishing. This feature allows you to email all or part of your calendar, or publish it to the Internet or any a WEBDAV server. Right click on the name of the calendar you wish to share to see these options. Microsoft currently offers free publishing to their Office Online website. See Share Calendars with Local Users using Internet Publishing to learn how to publish the calendar to your own WEBDAV server.

Some of the tools for synchronizing Outlook data via the Web also allow other people to access the information. You can use the Yahoo and MSN/Hotmail calendars to share your appointments with others. Intellisync is available for Yahoo and MSN Premium users can use the Outlook connector to sync their appointments with the web based calendar.

Many of the solutions listed on this page will allow you to share all Outlook data.

See More Tools and Utilities for Sharing Outlook Data for additional utilities.

Contacts

For methods and third-party tools to share contacts, see Shared Address Books.

If you don't have too many contacts to share, you can simply send vCard files. This is especially useful if not everyone is using Outlook, since many other products support the vCard standard.

Calendars

For a read-only calendar, see Publishing Microsoft Outlook Calendars on the Internet or an Intranet.

If you don't have too many calendar items to share, you can simply send vCalendar or iCal files. This is especially useful if not everyone is using Outlook, since many other products support the vCalendar standard.

Third-party providers also offer solutions for integrated group scheduling. Many of the applications in the Tools list on this page will allow you to share calendars. See More Tools and Utilities for Sharing Outlook Data for tools that share calendar data only.

Messages

To share messages, but not contacts or appointments, you can use Microsoft Mail Shared Folders in a workgroup postoffice. Note, however, that the Microsoft Mail server is no longer supported and Outlook 2002 (and newer) is not officially supported. See Add MS Mail support to Outlook 2002 for an unsupported method.

Another alternative is an Internet mail server that uses the IMAP protocol. IMAP is supported by Outlook 2002 and by Outlook 98 and Outlook 2000 in Internet Mail Only mode. Oracle Collaboration Suite and CommuniGate Pro Groupware provide Outlook users with additional capabilities besides shared mailboxes, but there are many IMAP servers. Others especially targeting Outlook users include Bynari InsightServer and mDaemon GroupWare. Versions of Outlook without built-in IMAP support can get it with a third-party provider. 

Microsoft Office Outlook Live (MOOL)

At this time, MOOL is available only for current subscribers. Hotmail /MSN Premium or Office Live offer similar functions, but do not include a copy of Outlook.

MOOL is a subscription service which provides a leased copy of Outlook to subscribers, along with the MSN Outlook connector. When you consider the cost of a Hotmail plus account, and the antispam and antivirus features offered, it's a good value for an Outlook license.

The subscription includes a Hotmail email address with 2GB of storage and the ability to send messages with attachment up to 20 MG in size. Included with the subscription is the MSN Outlook connector, a MAPI transport for Outlook 2002 and Outlook 2003 that syncs Outlook and your MSN accounts. It offers many of the advantages of an Exchange mailbox to MSN subscribers. The connector lets you set the MSN mailbox as your default message store, which allows you to easily sync appointments, contacts, and tasks between Outlook and MSN and view appointments shared with you by other MSN/Hotmail users, using Outlook's Shared calendar feature.

For more information see Microsoft Office Outlook Live (MOOL).

Exchange Server

Microsoft designed Exchange Server specifically for sharing calendar, contact and other information, as well as e-mail. See Sharing with Exchange Server Public and Mailbox Folders.

One way for small organizations to share information without installing Exchange Server in-house is to buy space on a server shared with other companies. We've seen prices as low as $10/month per user. You need Internet access, of course, to get to the server. You should also be able to get browser-based access to your mail, as well as access from the Outlook client. Many firms are now offering individual or workgroup accounts on shared Exchange Servers. See Exchange ASP Info.

Tools in the Spotlight

More Tools

Internet Free/Busy

More Information

If you need to share information with someone using the same PC (such as two users of a home computer), see Sharing Microsoft Outlook Info on One PC.

You can also use the Briefcase or Import/Export for a certain amount of sharing on a LAN. See Using the Briefcase to share Microsoft Outlook folders.

Other sharing tools can be found at Maintaining a Group Calendar in Outlook without Exchange and Live Group Calendar Tools.